A blog about the lives of a classical homeschooling family, in the idyllic Wet Coast, err, West Coast, of British Columbia. Oh, I know, it doesn't ALWAYS rain...it just seems like it.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

In Which We Start The New School Year

I might not talk about it much but we really do homeschool. Really.

At breakfast we talked about how it was the first day of school for many people, including us. This came as somewhat of a shock, despite the fact that I had mentioned it the day before. "What do you mean?" asked the Child Who Likes To Question The Obvious, "does that include ME?" "Why yes, funnily enough it does," I replied.

Being the diva that I am, I allocated a new Chore Chart, incorporating the twins more, err, effectively (they alternate breakfast dishes while their brother does dinner dishes and no I am not thinking about purchasing a dish washer why would I when I have three manual dishwashers already? besides, I AM too cheap, just ask Max)

The kids did math while I hauled 10 tonnes of post-County Fair craft-making residue out of the Family Room. The Family Room is where we do school stuff. It had had a table in it but that seemed to have disappeared. After what seemed like hours (but was only about 45 minutes) I paused for a break of sorts, mostly to see what FDPG and Dominic were arguing about (FDPG: "The new Harry Potter exhibit is in ORLANDO, Dominic, NOT Los Angeles! How many times do I have to tell you this?")

After all that frivolity we drank hot chocolate and looked out at the rain and reflected as to how the first day of school was going so far.

Max = good.

FDPG = ILOVE SCHOOLI'VEBEENWAITINGFORTHISDAYFOREVER.

Dominic = "do we have to do this tomorrow too?"

Sheila = I really hate cleaning can we do something else now?

Then we went out, ostensibly to buy a bookcase for the tottering piles of books I had unearthed when clearing out the Family Room, but somehow we ended up in a toy store.

We bought one of these. The kids wanted me to buy three but I said it would be a good lesson in learning not to fight about something sharing. Then they all fought over who got to use it first. FDPG the Teary Defence Method, a stealth weapon she is rather partial to, but the boys have learned to deflect this quite skillfully - they ignore her.

We went to a few places where I foraged for bookcases while the kids sat in the car and fought over played with the Perplexus. I also purchased a few items for the kids' Back To School Surprise bags (more about that later).

Then we went home and I learned that my Hippie Chick name (HT to RainboeBrite) is Caraway India. Richard is balking at calling me Caraway, sadly. He doesn't find it refreshing or fun or amusing; he thinks it's weird. At that point I discovered that his Hippie Chick name is Autumn. He is not partial to this either, but that's because he's more of a Spring than an Autumn.

After that I went to a meeting, leaving the children at home to wrangle pleasantly over who got to play with the Perplexus.

And guess what? Tomorrow we get to get up and do it all over again!

Forgot to add this bit, which came in between the bookcase hunting and the Perplexus Wrangling. A local radio station had a segment on Going Back To School today, and asked for everyone's stories. I sent mine in. Lo and behold they read it out loud, prompting my eldest (whose Hippie Chick name is Moonjava) to hug me, so overcome was he by my coolness.

Dear ______,

Today was the first day of school for my three kids - with a slight twist: we homeschool.If someone had told me seven years ago that I'd be AT HOME with ALL THREE of my kids one day (and liking it), I'd have laughed out loud (and maybe rolled my eyes a LOT), but here I am, homeschooling for the 7th year. One kid is entering grade 8 and the other two are in grade 4. And you know what? It's been great. I wouldn't have missed these years for the world. I have three kids that people enthuse about and I am constantly challenged, whether it's researching Egyptian mythology, looking at taxonomic classification systems, or hanging out at the beach while everyone else is - well, somewhere else. And my kids are pretty fun people to hang out with.It's all good. Even if we're not part of the 'regular crowd.'

I'm still cringing a bit that I was so humourless. Not like me at all.

I Think You're A 945 Year Old Time Lord!

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About Me

Five In A Row:
Richard (hunter), Sheila (gatherer), and three kids: Teenager, Fairy-Diva-Pony-Girl (FDPG) and Dominic. One in grade 11 and two in grade 7.
We're the latest niche market: homeschoolers. How retro.